Looking for a report on how the hobies preformed at the youth trials.Interested to hear what the feeling was if the hobie 16 is going to remain the ISAF youth boat.Also what is this new Hobie concept boat and where will it fit in.

It is a Hobie Europe concept boat which was built around the ISAF specifications for the Youth Multihull boat. The Hobie 16 is still going to be the Youth Multihull boat through at least 2006, could be longer depending on the ISAF decision to use a new boat or not, something we should know within the next couple of months. The future of the Hobie Max will probably depend greatly on that decision from ISAF.

Here is a question, My son is 12 and is an excellent hobie sailor, regularly beating seasoned adults. How do I get him involved in Hobie Youth racing nationally?? Who do I call, where are the qualifiers and that kind of information.
cw

Check with the local fleet to see if they offer a youth classes is not contact Art Stevens he is chairperson of the Multihull Council for Us sailing, he also runs the Fast and Fun program. His e-mail is aj.stevens@worldnet.att.net. Let me know if I can help you out in any way. We must get more kids sailing Hobies, it the only way to grow the fleets!

ISAF Council is the only committee that have the power to make decisions that have been suggested in Arts posting. Council have not met yet and will not until Friday. So there are no official confirmations until that time.

All submissions to ISAF go through several different committees (eg multihull, youth worlds, events, sailing etc) and all they do is recommend to Council what they should do.

Very often, Council votes the way it wants to, not following in line with the various committee recommendations. This is the reason for "lobbying" and hence the reason that there was such a strong Hobie presence this year. One example of this is the 49er and the last Olympic boat selection. Every committee recommended the 49er not sail in Athens. However Council did not agree and voted the boat in again. So it is not ever certain what Council will do.

The Hobie 16 is 100% the ISAF Youth Worlds Boat for the next three years. 2005 + 2006 will be sailed with the spinnaker.

In one meeting it was recommended that the 16 be used WITHOUT the spinnaker for the ISAF Youth Worlds in Poland, 2004. However the following day the multihull committee voted the boat should have a spinnaker for the 2004 reversing the initial suggestion. What Council decides we will not find out until next week.

There was a short list of boats that the 'Multihull trials working party' are proposing for the moment to be adopted "IN ADDITION TO" the current class (HOBIE 16). A recommendation to council will be made once the working party has narrowed down the finalists. They will mainly further interview the manufacturers of each boat to identify which one is best suited for the job. However this again is just a recommendation to Council and NOT the final decision.

It is unlikely that there will be any final Council decision at next year’s mid-year conference. Following the mid-year is the annual conference in Copenhagen in one year’s time. It is also unlikely that a final decision is made then, due to the selection of the Olympic Classes for the Games in Beijing.

There are guidelines that the ISAF must follow before introducing a new boat. One is that it must be an Internationally Recognised Class and another is there is a minimum of 3 years notification of the change. This criteria, is very difficult to achieve especially since the boat is aimed at Youth Sailors who are limited in cash. The Tiger has existed in Europe for 10 years and it was 6 years before it reached International Recognised Status. That would mean a minimum of 9 years before it can be used in any ISAF event from the day it was initially sold!

So why am I writing this?

1. No one knows anything definite prior to next week
2. Replacing the Hobie 16 as it has been suggested in Arts posting is not the case.
3. This will be a long discussion of which the full answer will not be available for possibly up to 2 years.
4. There is a strong movement to keep the Hobie 16. A minority few have proposed a new support.
5. The Hobie 16 will be 100% used in the next 3 ISAF Youth Worlds.
6. The IHCA must help to ensure that the Hobie 16 with spinnaker is successful at the next 3 ISAF Youth Worlds, particularly the next event in Poland, 2004.
7. If you want more facts email me directly.

Get the facts straight before you start gossiping. If you heard it from someone 9 times out of 10 it is not true. What is written here are the facts. This posting has been approved by my boss John Dinsdale, also representatives of the IHCA who are all representatives for you and your boat! All of which actually attended Barcelona……………….